Forum
Motor-Voter bill unfair to minorities
Under ihe guise of increasing ihe
number of persons registered to vote
across the United States, there is a bill
now pending in the Congress that
would radically undermine ihe Voting
Rights Act. This would be disastrous
fbr millions of African-Americans,
Hispanic -Americans, Asian- Ameri
cans, Native Americans and others
\yho are socioeconomically marginal
__ ifcecL The "Motor- Voter" bill S.874,
sponsored by Senator Wendell Ford,
democrat of Kentucky, would require
slates to register eligible voters when
they apply for a driver's license or
renewal. It will also provide for sys
tematic purging of current voters from
voting registration rolls.
Everyone should be for increased
voter participation in the nation, bui
not according to a law that would sys
tematically discriminate agaiast racial
and ethnic communities, as well as
the poor. Unfortunately, the House
has already passed its version of the
? bili^Now, as the Congress rushes to
complete the 1990 legislative agenda
before adjournmentforihe~Nbvember
elections, the Senate may quickly
vote in favor of the "Motor-Voter"
bill.
The NAACP Legal Defense
Fund stales, "the National Voter Reg
istration Act presents problems so
severe to the civil rights community
that its enactment should not be sup
ported." The Legal Defense Fund
warns that on the one hand, the pas
sage of this bill would disproportion
ately register whites, middle and
higher income individuals and on the
other hand, disproportionately remove
minority and low income voters from
the rolls as a result of the onerous
__.provisions-of voter purging,
We must rally the supporters of
voting rights and civil rights to imme
diately contact all 100 senators to
urge their vote against the Motor
Voter bill. We take exception to a
recent New York Times editorial enti
tled "Motor- Voter Bill: Good for
Democracy," The Times misstated the
truth when it declared, "...90 percent
of voting-age Americans drive" and
9
whatever reason (lost in the mail,
etc.), the voter is placed in a state of
suspended registration. The voter can
only maintain his or her registration
by appearing at the polling place dur
ing or before the next presidential
CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL
By BENJAMIN CHAVIS JR.
that "Democracy will surely be
expanded if the Senate swiftly rebuff*;
'ill ^considered oppositions this bill."
As a result of the Republican
amendments to the "Motor- Voter" bill
"authorizing unprecedented voter purg- "
ing, this legislation is tantamount to
institutionalized racism camouflaged
in language and procedures that are '
supposed to increase voter participa
tion but, in fact, discriminate under
the cover of law.
For exampleT^tn ihe state of
Louisiana about 31.3% of African
American households have no motor
vehicles for household use. The dis
proportion in access to a motor vehi
cle is similar irTolher states.AHhough *
the bill also expands registration
opportunities at other state agencies is ~
not automatic, and thus still relies on
the voter's initiative.. _ .
The bill, S.874 also targets sub
jectively voters for removal from the
rolls, if a state determines that a regis
trant may have changed his or her res
idence. It includes no standards to
govern how a state makes this deter
mination. luhcn shifts the hnrt1rn..to
the voter to rcbui this assumption by
receiving, reading, and understanding
a letter and mailing back a postcard.
If the postcard is not relumed -- for
election wiin connrmation (which
is undefined in the bill) of his or her
address." Also, the bill does not limit
the number of times a voter can be
targeted for such a purge. This means
that a state is authorized to engage m
repeated, unlimited mail purges.
Mailings could be sent on a yearly,
monthly or even weekly basis, thus
multiplying the opportunities for error
and unfairness, asserts the NAACP
Legal Defense Fund.
-Congress should not be enacting
federal legislation authorizing or
requiring federal purges. State laws
currently in full force and effect, gov
ern purging practices. There has been
no fact-finding that these states are
inadequate.
Moreover, S.874 would super- -
sede Section 2 of the Voting Rights
. Act and authorize a system of purging
voters which, in other instances,
would violate Section 2.
Let's get the word out now
before it is too late. Stop the "Motor
'Voter" bill in the Senate. Ensure vot
ing rights not for some, but for all.
Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. is execu
tive director of the Commission
for Racial Justice of the United
Church of Christ.
internal fighting aids continuation ot racism
An Associated Press report out
of South Africa last weekend says
-African National ^Congress leader
Nelson Mandela and South African
President F.W. deKlerk have con
cluded that a "hidden hand" is pro
voking the black vs. black fighting
ihere^n-aneffortto repressthc=
movement to end apartheid.
The report quotes deKlerk as
saying unidentified (white) groups
are trying to sabotage the govern
ment's effort to end apartheid and
draw up a new constitution free of
racial discrimination.
In their book, "Black History
for Beginners," Denise Dennis and
Susan Willmarih remind us of a
in this country: "There were two
groups of slaves - those in the field
and those in the main house. This
created a hierarchy.. .Because they
were closer to the 'massa,' house
slaves weren't trusted by those in
the field...
"Dividing blacks and making
them distrustful of one another was
one way to maintain control."
It doesn't take an Einstein to
see that the similarity in tactics is
; no coincidence.
Neither docs it take an Einstein
to look at blacks in America today
and see that we are acting like
house slaves and field slaves: We
don't trust each other, we're envious
of each other and, sadly, we seem
oblivious to the truth that our worst
White Hous
It's not often that Jesse Jack
son's National Rainbow Coalition
shares a common cause with the
American Medical Association, the
Industrial Biotechnology Associa
tion and the Pharmaceutical Manu
facturers Association. But Jesse ?
along with the leaders of those
organizations and others, including
the National Black Caucus of State
Legislators and the National Black
Nurses Association ? last month
asked the Budget Summit negotia
tors not to balance the budget on the
backs of the poor.
Apparently the White House
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) decided money could be
squeezed out of the Medicaid pro
enemy is the person in the mirror.
I will be the i ir^t to agrpp that
we are victims of a racist system in
America, but racism is as effective
We can see these things from
af:ir hm wo. fail jo see that in our
own country we arc caught in the
same trap by those proponents of
By ROOSEVELT WILSON
as it is becausc wc accommodate it.
Becausc wc arc in danger of
losing a generation of young black
men to homicide, drugs, and the
criminal justice system, it is easy
say blacks are victims of a plot
being orchestrated by white Ameri
ca,
That's a copout. Hitler couldn't
eliminate the Jews with his more
direct approach, and there is no
force in this country, including the
armed forces, powerful enough to
eliminate black America.
Wc can look at South Africa
today and see clearly that if the
blacks pull together apartheid
would end almost overnight. From
afar wc can sec also that blacks
fighting blacks is apartheid's biggest
friend. Likewise, from afar we have
been hoping South African blacks
would stop fighting each othervso
the negotiations to end apartheid
can continue.
racism. Black-on-black crime in
this country is out of control, black
factionalism is the rule and the only
beneficiaries of all this arc those
who prefer to maintain a racist sys
tem, ?
It is imperative that we stop
turning on each other and turn to
each other. It is imperative that we
understand that distrust and envy
are not inherent in our character, but
are vestiges of the mentality created
during slavery. ^
What our oppressors feared --
and fear -- most is our coming
together and acting as one. They
realize that what is inherent m our
character is a bonding that is
stronger than any system of oppres
sion. It's a pity they realize and we
don't.
Roosevelt Wilson teaches jour
nalism at Florida A&M University
in Tallahassee, Fla.
e proposal a dumb idea
GUEST COLUMN
By OFIELD DUKES
gram by requiring pharmacists to
switch patients' prescriptions to
completely different drugs without
the knowledge of the patients'
physician. Under OMB's plan,
pharmacists couldn't be held liable
if patients were hurt because of the
switch. It was a dumb idea, and
OMB has asked the Department of
Health and Human Services to
come up with a better one.
But Medicaid's not off the
hook yet. OMB got the idea from a
bill introduced bv Senator David
Pry or of Arkansas that comes up for
hearings on September 1*7. In
Pryor's bill, pharmacists have to
call the doctor before they can
switch drugs, which sounds fine if
thev can reach them. Alicia Georges
of the Black Nurses Association
points out that many Medicaid
patients arc treated by hospital
emergency room physicians who
arc not always easy to got hold of,
Meanwhile, the patient waits, and
waits or rejturns to the hospital ?
and waits some more ? to sec a
different physician, wasting another
half a day.
Congress should find another
place to save money.
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